The American Association of Extracellular Vesicles (AAEV) will hold its 2026 annual meeting November 12-15 at the Westin Jersey City Newport in Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from New York City. The meeting will feature numerous cutting-edge presentations by leading EV researchers from around the globe. You may register for this conference here. The abstract submission deadline is September 15, 2026. That is also the deadline for early-bird registration.
Plenary–David Lyden
The opening plenary lecture will be delivered by David Lyden, MD, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College. Lyden defined the concept of the “pre-metastatic niche” (PMN), where tumor-secreted factors recruit bone marrow-derived progenitor cells to distant organ sites to provide a platform for metastasis. Lyden’s work underscores the systemic nature of cancer. As such, Lyden demonstrated that tumor-derived extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated crosstalk initiates the PMN and coordinates metastatic progression. He identified key proteins and nucleic acids, specifically double-stranded DNA, in EVs and demonstrated their systemic role in thrombosis, fatty liver metabolic dysfunction, and immune dysregulation. He has defined tumor EV integrins in organotropic metastasis, answering in part Stephen Paget’s “seed and soil” hypothesis on organ-specific metastasis. Moreover, he identified a new particle named “exomere,” which packages distinct proteins, including metabolic enzymes, lipids, and glycans. He has identified novel EV biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis in patients with cancer.
Two keynote speakers will be Hailing Jin, PhD, University of California, Riverside, and Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, Columbia University.
Keynote–Hailing Jin
Jin’s research focuses on the roles of RNAs, epigenetic regulation, and antimicrobial peptides in plant–microbe interactions, with the goal of developing innovative and environmentally sustainable strategies for crop protection against fungal and bacterial pathogens. Her laboratory discovered that RNAs, including small RNAs, mRNAs, and long non-coding RNAs, can traffic bidirectionally between plants and their pathogens to regulate gene expression or cellular processes across organismal boundaries. Subsequent work revealed that EVs are key vehicles mediating this cross-kingdom RNA communication.
More recently, her group discovered EV-mediated RNA trafficking between bacteria and fungi, further expanding this biological paradigm. Cross-kingdom/cross-species RNA communication has since been observed across all kingdoms of life, fundamentally changing our understanding of inter-species or inter-organismal communication. Jin’s laboratory also demonstrated that many fungal pathogens can efficiently take up environmental RNAs and vesicles, providing the mechanistic foundation for the development of spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS) technologies for sustainable crop disease control.
In addition, her group has identified several novel classes of plant-derived antimicrobial peptides with broad-spectrum activities that can be harnessed as environmentally friendly biocontrol agents. Jin is a Distinguished Professor and the Cy Mouradick Endowed Chair in the Department of Microbiology & Plant Pathology at the University of California, Riverside.
Keynote–Michel Sadelain
Sadelain is the founding director of the Columbia Institute for Cell Engineering and Therapy at Columbia University, where he is Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine. He previously founded and directed the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he held the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair. He received his MD from the University of Paris, his PhD from the University of Alberta, and trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute at MIT.
Sadelain has made numerous key contributions to the emergence and success of CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy. His research contributed to all its facets from concept to implementation, including T cell engineering technologies, the design of CARs, the identification of CD19 as an effective CAR target, T cell manufacturing processes, and the clinical translation of CD19 CAR therapy for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Other Speakers
Among the other (20+) confirmed speakers are Andrew Hill, Victoria University; Alissa Weaver, Vanderbilt University; Maureen Barr, Rutgers University; Saumya Das, Harvard University; Quanyin Hu, UW-Madison; Huiping Liu, Northwestern; Sathish Ramakrishnan, Yale University; Kenneth Dawson, University College Dublin; and Louise Laurent, UC-San Diego.
The co-chairs of the AAEV 2026 annual meeting are Ke Cheng, PhD, and Susmita Sahoo, PhD.
Deadlines
The abstract submission deadline is September 15, 2026. That is also the deadline for early-bird registration.